


Make It A Double

by cameronclaire



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Bartender Vanitas, Characters 18+, Drinking & Talking, F/F, Gift Fic, Gossip, M/M, Matchmaker Chirithy, Multi, Relationship Advice, Slightly OOC Chirithy, Sora's been rescued because I said so, cheesy fluff, post kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:29:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27596885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cameronclaire/pseuds/cameronclaire
Summary: When giving life and relationship advice to keyblade wielders gets to be a little too much, Chirithy seeks advice (and top-shelf bourbon) from an unlikely source.
Relationships: Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Chirithy & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Naminé/Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), minor Hayner/Ventus, past Vanitas/Ventus
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	Make It A Double

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ceceliatarleton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceceliatarleton/gifts).



> Cheesy fluff for the amazing, talented, sweet Snow's birthday. The idea of Matchmaker Chirithy has not left my head once since you mentioned it.

“Sign says we’re closed, moron.” 

A mild wind creeps up Vanitas’ neck and arms and through his thin black v-neck, pricking at his skin, and just as abruptly stops as the glass door slaps shut. Vanitas doesn’t spare so much as a glance over his shoulder, just takes another breath of air tinged with tobacco and souring beer and continues flipping barstools up onto the counter. 

“Oh. It’s just me,” chimes a voice light as the ringing bell that preceded his entrance. “I don’t think Elrena would take too kindly to you calling her customers ‘morons’ though.” 

“She suggested it, actually.” Vanitas smirks to himself, paces to the end of the bar closest to the door, and sets the first two chairs back down with a flourish of his hand. “Said it beats ‘motherfucker’ any day of the week.” 

Chirithy giggles as he bounces up onto a barstool three times his height, his small cream white cape aflutter. “Guess she’s got a point there.” 

Vanitas slinks around to the other side of the bar, rubbing down the glossy wooden counter in front of the Spirit with a mostly-clean towel from his half-apron. “Usual?” he asks, as he rounds the bend, already reaching for a pair of tumblers from the shelf near his thigh. 

Chirithy sets his tiny white paws on the bar, and buries his large head on them, blue, stitched eyes blinking slowly as he gives a loud sigh. His coo of a voice takes on a mild world-weariness, “Better make it a double.”

Chirithy looks more outlandish than usual against the backdrop of Elrena’s bar. A single creamy white smudge of light against a vast, empty space with its dark furniture of iron and wood painted glossy black or rustically weathered. The electric green and yellow orbs that usually illuminate the space with a vibrant, eerie glow have been snuffed for the night, and only the dim bluish white overheads behind the bar remain, casting a long dark shadow out behind the Spirit. 

Vanitas has been working at Elrena’s since before it opened, mixing drinks, bussing tables, and dishing out unsolicited advice. When he isn’t gossiping with Elrena, at any rate. He had found a fast friend in the former Nobody, one of the only other people in the godforsaken city that isn’t afraid to speak her mind just because what she has to say isn’t _nice._ She had known what was going on with everyone Vanitas didn’t know, she had a sharp tongue and a sharp wit, and she wasn’t afraid to talk trash. He adored her immediately. 

Vanitas liked the bartending too: the lively crowd, the dual personalities of the sober versus the drunk, the honesty, the revelry, the music, all of it stoking a natural, glorious chaos withheld in the light of day. Granted, the late nights cleaning up the muss he could do without, but nothing’s perfect. He must have mentioned as much to Chirithy once, because Chirithy’d taken to dropping by during Vanitas’ closing shifts to keep him company and take the edge off his own day. Chirithy was usually a little less obvious about it though. 

“Ouch.” Vanitas winces, pausing mid-turn to offer Chirithy a sympathetic glance before retrieving a bottle of bourbon from the mirrored shelf behind him and giving both glasses a generous pour. He doesn’t like seeing the little cat thing quite this down. _It isn’t natural._ “Which of your victims were you lending a helping hand today?” 

“I wish you wouldn’t call them my ‘victims,’ Vani.” Chirithy’s tiny shoulders slump. “Since I came back from helping save Sora, everyone connected to Ventus’ heart, I feel responsible for. I can’t help it. I’m just…” Chirithy raises his head from his arms and gives it a little shake, ears twitching. “I’m trying to help them be... No. I’m _going_ to help them be—” Chirithy claps his hands together with a soft pat, his stitches stretching into a smile Vanitas finds disgustingly optimistic.

“ _The best keyblade wielders they can be._ Yeah,” Vanitas swishes his hand, “you’ve mentioned that several hundred times.”  
  
“Not just the best _keyblade wielders_ ,” Chirithy picks up his glass and gestures with it, ice clattering against the sides, drips rising like sparks, “the best _people_ they can be. I want them to pursue their passions, find their true purpose, and—” The glass lifts and shakes again with ardor.

Vanitas rolls his eyes. “Toast you in their hella gay weddings. Yeah, yeah, I get it.” He picks up his own glass and takes a slow sip, savoring the sharpness burning into his tongue after a long night of just smelling it. “I’m up on the goals and agenda,” he lets out a slow breath as the heat creeps pleasantly down the inside of his throat, “let’s skip to the part where you tell me how you fucked up this time.”

“I wouldn’t say I _fudged up_ exactly…” Chirithy squeaks carefully, eyes shifting up toward the ceiling which Elrena, Naminé, and Lea had painted to resemble a thunderstorm: a dawn blue sky crowded with raging black and violet clouds threaded with streaks of silvery white, “they just don’t always make the good choices I’m trying to steer them toward...”

Vanitas gives the cat a level stare and waits until Chirithy meets it before shifting his own glass to spread the ice and countering, “Hey. You’re just one Chirithy trying to Chirithy four idiot keyblade wielders—”

Chirithy’s drink clinks emphatically as he sets it down, though his voice is permanently pleasant, “Five, actually.”  
  


“—Whatever. The point is you can’t actually expect to succeed. They’re destined to screw up. So, c’mon.” Vanitas offers a winning smile of his own. His bare, muscled arms, recently tattooed at Elrena’s expense on a supply run to Port Royal, cross on the countertop as he leans forward. “Who was it this time? Please say Xion. It’s never Xion.” 

“Oh…” Chirithy hums, his little way of prolonging any subject he’s trying to hedge his way around, before sighing, taking another sip of his drink, his stitched eyebrows furrowing. “All of them.” 

Vanitas doesn’t try very hard to stifle his next grin. “Good gods.” His palm spreads across the countertop, black nail polish chipped at the edges after his lengthy bartending shift. “Tell me everything.” 

Chirithy giggles, and then glances down at his drink, black ears twitching. “I don’t even know where to start, Vani,” Chirithy admits. “It just went from bad to… to hell in a handbasket.” 

Vanitas’ lip twitches, the lines by his eyes crinkling, “What, did Axel teach you that one?”  
  
“Hm. Maybe.” 

“Psh, _Cherry_ …” 

_“I know.”_

Vanitas pushes himself off of the counter, takes another long, slow, wince-inducing sip of bourbon and then starts to circle the bar, “Go on, I’m listening. Start with Sora. You know how I love making fun of Sora.” 

“Yeah, okay.” Chirithy’s bulbous head bobs as he cradles his drink, and turns with a little hop to watch Vanitas resume putting the last few barstools up. Once upon a time, Chirithy had given Vanitas shit for saying things like that, but the Spirit’s since learned to pick his battles. “So, as you know, Sora, Riku, and Kairi have been back on Destiny Island for a couple months now on their extended—”  
  
“Honeymoon.” Vanitas sneers.  
  
“— _Vacation,_ ” Chirithy corrects quickly, but not without a giggle muffled behind a paw. “And I’m so happy for them. Really.”

“Yeah, well, you should be.” Vanitas has stepped into a nook behind the bar, leading off toward a supply closet and the kitchen, but pokes his head out to respond, a broom in the crook of his arm. “It took you, for-fucking-ever to get them to realize they could all just… date each other, right?”

Chirithy groans, rubbing the back of his neck. “I think I said _But why not?_ eleven million times before it really sank in,” Chirithy nods, optimistic smile resurfacing, “but what’s important is they’re all together now.”

There’s a clang, a curse, and then the thunk of a door pushed too hard before Vanitas reappears again, broom in hand and a new stain bleeding into his apron. “So, what’s the problem, then?”

“Oh,” Chirithy gestures vaguely with a paw, “I was kind of thinking it’s time for them to spend more time protecting the worlds from Heartless and less time making kissy faces and drinking out of coconut shells, you know?” He looks at his own drink with chagrin for a moment before taking another tiny slip.  
  
“Oh, yeah?” Vanitas steps up to lean over the cat spirit again, jeering, “Putting your foot down, huh?”

“Well,” Chirithy gives a tiny hiccup, pats his chest with his paw and then continues, “I was going to give Sora a little talking to about it, but…” 

_For a single blinding moment, Chirithy couldn’t distinguish the white rays of sun painting the cloudless Destiny Island sky from the Portal of Light he had travelled through. It took the strong smell of salt, eroding wood, and coconut sunscreen to center him in the new world._

_The white island sand toasted his paws as he bounced his way over to the trio laid out on the beach like a starfish, their heads together and their bodies sprawled across brightly patterned towels, their fingers intertwined and resting in the sand between them._

_“Are you still sleeping at this hour?” Chirithy had asked, lifting his arms toward the rays pleasantly soaking his fur._

_“Napping,” Riku corrected, a blue-green eye winking open, suggesting he hadn’t been, though he lacks the bruises just below his lids that had become so familiar before they got Sora back._

_“Cat napping,” Kairi corrected with a quick smile, releasing his hand to stretch an arm over her eyes, adjusting to the brilliant glare glinting off the sparkling expanse of blue. She turned her attention to Chirithy, settling himself neatly on the corner of her blanket. “Apparently we’re going to need a lot of energy for everything Sora has planned for the day.”  
  
Riku gave a look both fond and exasperated at once. “More like the week…”_

_“Week?” Chirithy groaned. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to the three of you about that…”_

_“Huh?” Sora mumbled. He rolled for a moment and then scrambled to sit upright, rubbing sand or sleep from his eyes with both fists. “I thought we were napping?” He glanced around wildly to see what had caught Kairi and Riku’s attention. “Wha_ — _Chirithy?” Sora grabbed up Chirithy and squeezed him to his tanned, bare chest, the metal of his crown necklace pressing into the cat’s face. “Chirithy! I’ve missed you...”_

_“Gee, thanks.” Chirithy hugged Sora back, giggling. “But it’s only been a couple days, Sora.”_

_Riku’s smile softened, sitting in the sand and lowering his shades back over his eyes. “Chirithy wanted to talk to us about our plans for the week.”  
_

_Sora grinned, pressing his nose to the cat’s. “Of course you can join us for the week!”_

_“Oh! Uh…”_

_Before Chirithy knew it, Kairi had wrapped him in several fragrant pink flower lei, Riku had Chirithy on the back of his surfboard, paddling into the glittering, white seafoam, Sora had Chirithy on his shoulder as he parried lunges from Tidus with a wooden sword, yelling laughing battle cries. The morning flew past on the sweet paopu scented breeze and then suddenly, he was waving good-bye on his way to check in on his next charge._

Vanitas pauses in sweeping up broken glass from under the bar, leaning on the broom and narrowing his eyes at Chirithy, “You didn’t even _mention_ going back to work, did you?”

Chirithy rubs at his cheek. “They spent the last few years of their lives saving the universe. What’s one more week going to hurt, right?” His smile’s turned a little indulgent. 

Vanitas scoffs, but there’s the trace of a smile of his own beneath it. “Fucking softie.” No matter what Chirithy says about only wanting to be in the keyblade wielders’ lives to offer advice and guidance, Vanitas suspects Chirithy’s really looking for something more. Vanitas is not unfamiliar with the feeling.

“Yeah, I know,” Chirithy sings a tad guiltily. “But not as bad as what happened with Roxas and Xion.” Chirithy attempts to take another sip of his bourbon but finds only drips of ice to dampen his nose and the lingering scent of liquor to burn it. He pushes the glass away, watching the damp streaks it leaves in its wake, and sets his paws together. “Actually, I don’t even know if I should tell you that…” 

“You don’t have to tell me, Cherry.” Vanitas crosses the floor with his pan of dust and glass shards, and when Chirithy looks up, his gold eyes are right across the bar from him. “I just thought we were friends, that’s all.” His eyes seem to gleam in the low light, and Chirithy gulps a little until Vanitas breaks their gaze, focusing on emptying his dust pan correctly into the bin so he doesn’t have to do another round of sweeping before he _Waterra_ and _Aeros_ the dark wood floorboards.

The Chirithy pouts, and Vanitas feels another prick of cold because the expression reminds him of Ventus. “We are friends,” Chirithy answers quiet and polite as ever, “but it’s also kind of private, and _you’re_ not the best at keeping secrets.” 

Vanitas remembers being taken by surprise the first time Chirithy had teased him, but he’s grown used to it, even fond of it, over the past few months, and now he takes it in stride. 

“Neither are you,” Vanitas counters gamely. “It’s why we’re friends. Also,” trash taken care of, his hand seeks the bottle he’d left open on the counter, and tilts it to catch the glimmer of the electric white orbs floating and glowing dimly above, “I’m not afraid to bribe you with alcohol.”

Chirithy bites his lip, flashing a bit of fang. “I don’t know…” Vanitas starts topping off his own glass and Chirithy watches with widening blue eyes, as he moves to set the bottle back behind him. Chirithy waves his arms. “Ah. Okay fine! But only because I really need to tell someone or else I’ll explode! But you _should_ still bribe me with alcohol.”

“Fair enough.” Vanitas chuckles, leaning across the bar with the bottle, and joining Chirithy in watching the amber liquid spill, the only sound in the large, open space the splattering of water on glass and the clicking ice cubes. When the glass is half full, Vanitas sets the bottle aside and crosses his arms, still leaning halfway across the gleaming countertop, “So? Dirt on Xion. Sweetheart’s so hard to make fun of. Spill.”  
  
“Well, it’s not _dirt_ exactly, but… She can be a little quiet and withdrawn, you know? Kind of like you. I’ve been trying to get her to make new friends. Not so much like you, and that’s been going okay, I think. She spends most of her time with Naminé, and she hangs out with Roxas and the gang in Twilight Town, but, I can’t help but want something a little _more_ for her.”

“More...?”

“A spark.” Chirithy swishes his paw and golden specks of glitter float up and fizzle away. “A hand to hold. _Romance.”  
_  
“Again?” Vanitas flicks Chirithy’s glass and it rings. “You wanna get half of New Radiant Garden laid, is what I’m hearing.” 

“No!” Chirithy gasps, scandalized, though Vanitas keeps his gaze steady, pressing. “No,” the Chirithy repeats more firmly, though his voice still squeaks, “Fuck off, Vani, no.” 

Vanitas grins at the expletive, sweeping his own drink up and shrugging. “Alright, whatever. So, then what?” 

“It finally happened!” Chirithy speaks wistfully, the memory of enthusiasm in his voice. “She finally admitted to me that she has… wait for it…” Chirithy’s paws drum on the countertop, though Vanitas only pushes out a sigh and takes another long sip of his drink, “a big, old, huge, secret crush!” 

Vanitas sets his drink down, coughing a bit. “Oh shit.” He swipes at his mouth with the back of his hand, gold eyes narrowing at the Spirit. “Cupid cat returns. You know, not everyone needs romance to be happy.” 

“You don’t mean that.” Chirithy tugs at the lapel of his cape. “She wouldn’t admit to me who it was, but everyone knows _that._ So, after a lot of work…”

“You mean talking her ear off.” 

“Well, maybe. Anyway. I convinced her that she should find a special way to tell that person how she feels,” Chirithy coos, and Vanitas can practically see the cartoon Valentine hearts floating over Chirithy’s head with each word. Vanitas can’t help but think that if Ven were around he’d be swooning like a fool too, and it kind of feels like he should be.

 _It’s been a while now,_ he realizes, not for the first time, with a pang.

“And I just so happened to bring back a paopu fruit from Destiny Islands with me.” The Chirithy offers another wistful little smile.

Vanitas cringes, pushing back from the bar, brushing dirt from his hands. “Nothing says romance like making someone bite into a chunk of bitter citrus.”

Chirithy pauses, dark, stitched brows rising. “Uh… Is that a euphemism or something?”  
  
“No. It’s just, like, enough with the goddamn fruit already.” He takes a few steps away and picks up a bowl of lemon wedges he’d nearly forgotten he’d left sitting out. He squeezes one between his fingertips and lets the juice run, a teasing smile playing at his lips. “Why, would you prefer a euphemism?”  
  
“No?” Chirithy shakes his head, his stumpy tail twitching once behind him in warning. “Um, anyway, Xion and I had a long talk about how sweet and kind and strong she is, and her confidence was way up, and she took a bouquet and a picnic basket with little finger sandwiches and a thermos of sweet tea we made, and the paopu and some sea shells and this poem she wrote that _I_ didn’t really _get,_ but I’m sure was very heartfelt—”

The door of the mini fridge set below the broad, mirrored liquor shelf against the far wall snaps shut behind the bowl of lemons. “Cannot emphasize enough that I do not care about the poem she wrote.” 

“Anyway,” Chirithy finally sounds a tick irritated, “she walked out the door to go profess her love around noon, and it occurred to me that if Roxas is anything like Ven, then he might not actually be awake yet—”

“Hold up there, tiger stripes.” Vanitas spins on the heel of his combat boot to hit Chirithy with a generous dose of skepticism, “Xion told you she has a crush on _Roxas?”_

“Well, no,” Chirithy slides the glass back and forth between his paws, and in the seconds Vanitas isn’t anticipating the direction this train wreck of a story is going to go, he’s thinking Elrena is right and they should probably invest in some branded coasters. 

“She wouldn’t admit who it was on,” Chirithy allows, one pointed ear bending, one shoulder shrugging, “but come _on._ He’s her best friend. Who else would it be?” 

Vanitas beams, a predatory thing, and Chirithy’s stomach goes cold. 

“So, you went to check on dear little Roxas _at home in bed_...?” 

Chirithy scoffs a bit. “I just popped into his bedroom for _a second_ to see if he was up. But I guess I should have knocked or maybe called first...” Chirithy looks down at his drink again, and it sounds like beneath the fur he might be blushing. 

“Why?” Vanitas jeers, strolling around the counter, “Was Roxas still asleep? Does he sleep in the buff? Did he yell at you and hurt your poor little Chirithy _feewings?”_

“No. Well, yes. He was, um… still asleep, and um, possibly nude… but that wasn’t…” Chirithy meets Vanitas’ gaze as Vanitas hefts himself up onto the stool beside Chirithy, his wide-eyed, floppy-eared expression making it clear he’d rather not continue. Chirithy’s paws fumble with the latch of the pink coin purse hung around his neck. “Gah. I need a cigar. You want a cigar?”

Vanitas waves off the offer. “I don’t smoke. Look how Xigbar turned out.” 

“Alright.” Chirithy sighs and props the cigar in his mouth, voice a bit muffly around it. “Lea was there.”

Vanitas snaps his fingers, and Chirithy’s cigar end lights neatly. Lea had taught him that, said it might get him a date. “So… what? You’re saying Roxas’ roommate was in Roxas’ room with Roxas?”

_Chirithy had never seen Roxas’ room before. He might not have been able to travel there at all if not for the remnant thread connecting Ven and Roxas’ hearts. It wasn’t much to look at anyway, in Chirithy’s opinion. Black walls, dark gray carpet, white furniture. Everything militarily clean. If Chirithy had fingers, he could probably have counted the number of personal items there on one hand. It seemed decorating remained something of a foreign concept to the former Nobody._

_The few items Roxas did have were carefully arranged atop of a dresser near the desk Chirithy had landed on, as if Roxas feared they might need to be tucked or packed away at a moment’s notice. These consisted of a short stack of books, a spiraling, spiked, pearlescent seashell, a camera, a potion, a popsicle stick (probably trash?), and a crude crayon drawing from Naminé of Roxas, Axel, and Xion holding hands._

_Chirithy wouldn’t have been inclined to spend much time looking around even if there had been much to see, because stirring movements and muffled voices drew his full attention to the bed in the center of the room, where he saw beneath the comforter, not Roxas, but a long, lanky, muscular body. The man’s legs curled to prevent toes hanging off the bed, and his hair seemed the only shock of color in the room, a mane of vibrant crimson._

_“Axel?"_

_"What is it, baby?” Lea mumbled, sounding more asleep than awake, readjusting his arm beneath the comforter with its large checkerboard print._

_“I’m not sure.” The sleepy voice that answered_ was _unmistakably Roxas’, and Chirithy’s mind went entirely blank. “I thought I felt something…”_

“In Roxas’ bed,” Chirithy clarifies, blowing out a puff of smoke, “with Roxas.”

Vanitas tilts his head, taunting, arms crossing, “Like a cute little sleepover?”

_“You thought you_ felt _something?” Lea chuckled, the sound low and grumbly against the pillow. “That is a truly terrible pick up line, Roxas.”_

_“Shush. You know that’s not what I meant.” Roxas extricated himself from Lea’s arms and legs and sat up, bare chested, golden hair a more tangled mess than usual. Blearily, he gave the room a quick once over. Chirithy held his breath and stood still as a plushie. Roxas, eyes still squinting, huffed a breath and collapsed back into the pillows, Lea’s arms pulling him to his chest once more. Lea’s head tilted and Chirithy could hear the sound of kisses pressed lightly to the back of Roxas’ neck._

_“I must have been dreaming,” Roxas mumbled._

_“I’ll give you something worth dreaming about…”_

_“Oh, yeah?”_

_"Yeah."_

_Lea shifted behind Roxas, and Roxas’ chuckle faded into a soft moan._

“Like a _naked_ sleepover. Curled up around him, holding his waist and his hand and…” Chirithy fades off, watching Vanitas who remains amused but unsurprised. “And obviously you knew about this…” Chirithy glares as much as a Chirithy can. 

Vanitas rolls his eyes. “Everyone knows about this. The first thing Axel and Roxas did after they defeated Xehanort was swear their undying devotion to each other and make out for, like, five entire minutes straight. Every time I see them together I kind of want to vomit. I guess you weren’t around yet.” 

“But…” Chirithy struggles to express all the objections bubbling in his throat. 

“Yeah, yeah. Peace and love. I know, I’m working on it,” Vanitas leans back on his stool and glances to the side like he can still see the pair of them, the last time they came in, Axel talking a mile a minute, Roxas mostly quiet, occasionally offering a reply that would make Axel howl so loudly the other patrons would turn to stare. Axel and Roxas singing with the live band, varying between on and obnoxiously off-key. Axel and Roxas never not grinning, never not touching, never not focused entirely on each other, not really. 

Vanitas, newly single himself after fucking things up with Ventus one time too many a couple months back should hate that about them. But Vanitas likes the way they’re always a little too loud and a little too bright. Likes the music they sing and the clothes they wear and the way they tease. He likes the way they visit Elrena and joke with her staff and never skimp the tip jar. If there’s a limit to push, they push it.

“Objectively, individually, I don’t completely hate either of them,” he corrects himself for the sake of not making the Chirithy think he’s a complete shit, “they’re not quite as obnoxious as the sunshine brigade from sunshine island. So, I’m working on it.”

Chirithy does not respond, searching his face, apparently thrown by this tangent, and Vanitas decides to circle back, his teasing growing softer, “I don’t know how you didn’t know about this. They spend literally all their time together.”

Chirithy gives a cute little scoff and gestures with his cigar. “I just thought they were really good friends!”

Vanitas resists a second eye roll. “I mean they _are_ really good friends… That’s kind of the whole point. That’s why Ventus and I didn’t… fucking work.” 

Chirithy hops to his feet and tosses his arms out. “I have failed Roxas at everything! He’s been lying to me! I’m the worst Chirithy ever.” 

“So dramatic.” Vanitas plucks the dwindling cigar from the Chirithy’s hand and stubs it out in a nearby ashtray imprinted with Elrena’s lightning insignia. “I don’t see the big deal. He probably thought you knew.” Vanitas watches the ashes fizzle and the sparks fading, and tries to get his mind off of the intimate scene Chirithy had described, “You still got to see one of your wielders get laid, right? It just wasn’t with who you expected.” 

“I told you I’m not trying to...” Chirithy sputters, groans, buries his face in his arms again, wearily. “He didn’t even just lie about Lea though…” 

_“Mm, Axel. Axel. Wait. Are we really going to spend our last day in town in bed?”_

_“I can’t think of a better way to spend it.” There was quiet. Chirithy presumed they were looking at each other, a battle of wills playing out with facial expressions alone. Lea sighed. “But I guess we do have a couple supplies to pack and goodbyes to say, huh?”_

_Chirithy’s mind whirred again._ Goodbyes? Where are they going?

_“I’m going to miss everyone.” Roxas sounded more serious all of a sudden._

_“They’re going to miss you too.”_

_“Us.”_

_“Eh. Maybe.” Lea laughed. “Hey. Roxas.” Lea flopped onto his back to stare up at the ceiling, also black, broken with veins of dim electric blue light. “You remember how I told you I wasn’t going to do that thing where I tell you I want you to stay here while I go off to find Isa and help him track down our missing friend, because it’s safer here and I don’t want you to get hurt?”_

_“Yeah.” Roxas’ voice sounded tense. “Yeah, I remember how you said you_ weren’t _going to do that.”  
  
“Good.”_

_After a beat in which it seemed Lea intended to leave it at that, Roxas laughed._

_Upon receiving the desired reaction, Lea continued, “Just a reminder that if you want out, you gotta tell me, because I’m still not going to.” Lea turned his head to look into Roxas’ eyes again. “There’s no way I’m traipsing the universe helping Isa track down our friend without you. If everything goes to hell in a handbasket again, I want you right where I can see you.”_

_“Good,” Roxas answered softly, and Chirithy saw his hand rise up to smooth Lea’s hair, “because wherever you go, Hades or Halloweentown, I’m going to be right there to bring you back.”_

_Chirithy can hear the smirk in Lea’s voice, “I’m pretty sure that’s my line.”_

_“I got it memorized.”_

_Lea snorted and they laid in silence for a moment. “Y’know, that’s one of the first things I loved about you, Roxas.” Lea exhales, his voice taking a turn to the nostalgic, “Everything I said, everything I did, all of me… You’re one of the only people I ever met who’s always treated me like I’m worth remembering.”_

_There’s a shuffling as Roxas draws his face closer to Lea’s. Chirithy imagines his eyes, wide, serious, a calm, dark, evening ocean. “You’re the first person I remember who was.”_

Vanitas, who had stretched across the bar to retrieve his water bottle, settles back into his seat, unscrewing the cap. “And then what happened?”

“The kissing was getting a little, ahem,” Chirithy waves his second cigar in a small circle, and Vanitas smells a hint of clove, “intense, so I poofed myself back outta there.” 

“Guess they decided the packing could wait. That was a euphemism by the way.” Vanitas starts to laugh, the Chirithy glaring at him again, tail flicking. “Well,” Vanitas manages, finally, toothy grin still in place, “it could have been worse. Sounds like they didn’t even realize you were there. Is that what you’re all worked up about? Roxas getting boned by the sexy baddie?” 

“What? No.” Chirithy tosses up his little paws. “I don’t know. I wish you wouldn’t put it like that...” Chirithy exhales more smoke in an even, curling wisp, reminding Vanitas, ironically, of Lea. “It’s just… Roxas picked _Lea?_ He used to be steeped in Darkness, right? The baddest of the bad? A former Organization member?”  
  
“Slash kidnapper. Slash murderer.” Vanitas sips at his water. “Or so I’ve heard. What, you don’t approve? Aren’t you the one always telling me people like me can _change?”_

“I…” Chirithy raises his paw and then drops it, brows furrowing. “Yeah, I guess so. Do you think he has?”

Vanitas takes a second to consider. Elrena’s complained about Lea’s behavior before, said he’s play-acting hero for Roxas, and would lash out at his command, burn worlds to keep him safe. Lea had been one of the first Guardians of Light to speak to Vanitas like he wasn’t some kind of fragile, compact bomb, and Vanitas had later wondered if it was because Lea was ticking down himself. Vanitas thinks again of Roxas and Lea, hand in hand, bellowing with the local band. 

“He’s been all smiles and jokes since I met him,” Vanitas replies finally. 

Of course that isn’t strictly true. Vanitas’ thoughts turn to the time he’d been flirting with Roxas more or less in Lea’s face to piss off Ven. He’d touched Roxas’ hand, his arm, whispered in his ear, made several suggestive comments. While Ven silently fumed, Roxas distracted by the band and a shot or two, didn’t seem to notice anything amiss, or simply refused to acknowledge it. 

Vanitas had been contemplating how much to step up his advances to get a rise out of his boyfriend’s double, when he had taken a sip of his drink only to find himself with a mouthful of liquid fire. He’d spat all over the table and dumped the entire scalding hot glass down his front. Lea had been the first to offer him a napkin, lips pursed, eyes smiling, burning, acidic. 

The man’s not as feral as rumor has it, but he’s not a kitten, either. 

“Threatened to kill me a few times,” Vanitas continues, ‘but I mostly deserved it.” 

Chirithy sputters. “That’s not exactly encouraging…” 

“Wow.” Vanitas pokes the Chirithy in his small round stomach, eliciting a surprised giggle. “I can’t imagine why Roxas doesn’t tell you everything.”

“Vanitas…” Chirithy swats at the hand, stifling his laugh with a paw, “I just want to keep him safe…” 

“Look,” Vanitas attempts to iron his teasing tone into something flatter, “you saw them being mushy as all fuck. _I’ll give you something worth dreaming about? You’re worth remembering?”_ Vanitas’ voice gets high and smouldery in mimicry of Lea’s and then abruptly drops, “Gag. I don’t know what else you want.” 

“Hm.” Chirithy sets his large head in his paws and shuts his eyes. 

_Vanitas is making sense,_ Chirithy thinks, _Lea was really sweet to Roxas, if a little more… touchy-feely than I expected... And I am always telling Vani everyone deserves a second chance…_

“Okay, well, maybe you’re right. But Roxas really should have told me he was thinking of going off on a dangerous mission! I mean he _just_ got his life together, and now they’re going to chase after Isa? He’s only been gone a month!”

“So…” Vanitas slips soundlessly off the barstool and onto his feet, “you’re upset with Roxas for doing… all the things you’re trying to get Sora to do…?” 

“What? I— No.” Chirithy shakes his head, stumping out his cigar prematurely, eyes following Vanitas as he paces around him, pocketing his hands and stepping backward.  
  
“Roxas is doing pretty much exactly what you told Sora to,” Vanitas continues and figures if his smile is a little condescending, well, so be it. “Date the person he cares about and fuck what everyone else has to say about it. Stop biding his time and go out and do something that _matters.”_ Vanitas pauses a beat and Chirithy’s mouth dips open. “Okay, so I’m paraphrasing.”

Chirithy considers this. He doubts he’s the only one who was reluctant to see Roxas dating Lea, but they did seem really at home together, not unlike Sora and Riku and Kairi did.

...And he supposes looking for a missing person _is_ a noble cause, and if he’s being honest with himself, exactly the sort of thing he had in mind to get Sora back in the field. But Roxas… After hearing about his past, Chirithy had wanted nothing more than to see him happily settled down in a normal life.

“I mean, you don’t spend as much time with Roxas as the others, right?” Vanitas has stepped behind the bar now, but glances back to clock Chirithy’s quick head shake.

“He’s not much of a talker… And I just, I thought he was adjusting so well, and now…” Chirithy rubs between his eyes, “I think I just wasn’t paying attention.”  
  
“I think you’ve got it backwards.” Vanitas steps back into the alcove, his voice rising, “I think he _is_ doing well. You’re just upset because it’s not the way _you_ wanted him to do it. Have you ever even asked Roxas what _he_ wants?” 

“I…” Chirithy shivers at Vanitas’ rising voice, fur lifting on the back of his neck, and tries to think back, but can’t remember many deep conversations with Roxas at all. “I don’t know.” 

“We’re not Ventus, Chirithy.” Vanitas steps back out of the alcove, carrying a large tin bucket and box of soap, which he drops onto the counter with an unceremonious thunk and clank. “You can’t read our minds and know what we need to be happy.

“It’s more of a _sense_ thing,” Chirithy mutters, glancing away, out into the empty midnight street with its merry yellow lamps. 

“Whatever. You don’t have it.”

Chirithy feels the gentle weight of Vanitas’ fingers on his shoulder and glances up. 

Vanitas eyes hold more earnestness than usual, and it occurs to Chirithy not for the first time that working at the bar and spending time with the others has done a world of good for the bitter young man’s social skills. “You just have to trust that they know what they want and be there for that. Get to know them. Like you did with me. You didn’t tell me what to do. I wanted to date Ven, even though I wasn’t _at all_ good to him, and you gave me advice. I wanted to work at this bar,” Vanitas gestures to a nearby poster with profanities plastered across it in electric pink font, “and you told me to go for it, even though Aqua said bars are dens of…” Vanitas’ smile spreads, nose crinkling in mockery.  
  
“ _Sin and vice_ , yeah, I remember.” Chirithy wrings his paws over his change purse. “Honestly, Vanitas, I just didn’t know how to help you...”

“Yeah, but that’s the thing. You did. You were there,” Vanitas makes it sound simple. “You’re still here. And I’m doing okay for myself, right?” His eyes flash gold again, daring Chirithy to disagree.  
  
Chirithy thinks of the guy who made Ven feel so insecure, who lashed out at all the keyblade wielders, who didn’t have a job or a friend or the capacity to have a conversation not centered around himself, and Vanitas doesn’t seem like that guy any more.

_Mostly._

“Yeah…” Chirithy smiles and it feels more genuine than any of the others this evening. “Yeah, I guess you are. You really think I helped you with that?”  
  
Vanitas rolls his eyes, and as Chirithy tries to stand and reach for him, sets his palm on the Chirithy’s face and holds it back, “Don’t get all mushy on me. What I’m saying is, maybe you should take a step back with Sora and Roxas. See where that takes you.” 

Chirithy plunks back down into the chair. “I must’ve had too much to drink, because you’re starting to sound wise, Vanitas.” He stretches out his paw and sets it on the hand Vanitas rests on the bar. “Maybe _you_ should be the Chirithy.”  
  
“Nobody’s going to do a better job than you, Cher, and no way in hell does anybody _want_ to.”  
  
Chirithy gives a tired little giggle that makes Vanitas beam briefly in spite of himself. 

“Keep doing what you’re doing. Just… keep in mind that maybe, unlike with Ven, the rest of us know our hearts better than you do, and sometimes it’s not easy to share that. And that’s okay. We don’t always need advice. Sometimes we just need…” Vanitas swishes his hand vaguely. “A friend.”  
  
Chirithy’s eyes get big and his voice fills with muted awe, “A _friend?”_

Vanitas winces, eying the ceiling, “Gods, maybe you’re not the only one who’s had too much to drink.”

Chirithy laughs, hops up onto the bar, and hugs Vanitas’ arm for a moment. Vanitas grumbles as he pulls away and stalks off to fetch a mop that looks like something salvaged from old Radiant Garden’s wreckage. He refuses to acknowledge the warmth growing in his chest at Chirithy’s happiness, but he can’t quite stow his smile. 

Chirithy, on the other hand, looks a little down again when Vanitas returns, meandering across the counter, and plopping himself onto the soapbox with a sigh. “I still feel really terrible about Xion though. I think she really liked Roxas. I went outside of his apartment to try and meet up with her, but she never came. Later, I found out she went to see Naminé instead. She must have chickened out.”

Vanitas hums, fingers tapping on the countertop. “Or maybe she didn’t.” 

Chirithy tilts his head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, Xion and Naminé came by the bar together earlier, giggling and holding hands and shit,” Vanitas jerks his thumb over to a distant table by a window with a box trimmed with dark red flowers, “and Xion looked fine to me.”

“You said…” Chirithy stumbles to his feet, cape swishing, “I mean they were…” Chirithy clasps his paws, and hops, “holding hands?”

“Uh… Yeah, Chirithy.” Vanitas smirks, wiggling his fingers and releasing gold sparks. “Yeah, they were holding hands.” 

Chirithy skips around the counter, arms windmilling, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” 

“Guess you didn’t fudge everything up after all, Cupid Cat.”

Chirithy spends the next several minutes hopping about the counter and singing about how perfect Naminé and Xion will be together, and for once, Vanitas doesn’t have it in him to interrupt, just kneels behind the bar with a faint smile and nods, as he spells water into the empty tin bucket and then dumps in a generous helping of soap flakes. Only when he notices a creeping silence does Vanitas glance up to find Chirithy with his legs hanging off the counter, staring down at him, another cigar, unlit, passing between his hands. 

“Hey, Vani… What do _you_ want?”  
  
Vanitas grips the handle of the bucket and lifts it as he stands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Cherry.” The bucket swings and sloshes cold water across the front of his t-shirt. “Ah. Fuck me...” he mumbles, gripping the hem and shaking it out. 

Drips fly and Chirithy brushes them from his face with a dainty paw, his legs kicking. “I mean, do you want to stay friends with Ven? Now that he’s seeing somebody else, I mean.”

Working at the bar every day, Vanitas sees friends, couples, lovers, at their best and at their worst: flirting, fighting, joking, laughing, crying, falling the fuck apart and putting each other back together. Learning from the successes and failures of others, he’s been able to piece together how much he’d mistreated the first person to offer him a real chance at friendship, a relationship. He knows he doesn’t deserve a second chance; he certainly wouldn’t advise one of the bar’s patrons to give him one, but Ven is kind of a sucker for lost causes and he can’t help but hope… 

“Ugh. Yeah.” Vanitas sighs, dropping his shirt back down and running a hand through his tousled black hair. “If he could get over my being such an asshole, that’d be cool. But I’m not holding my breath, you know? I really fucked that up.”

He thinks he’d like a chance to do better. 

“Why?” Vanitas hefts the bucket up again more carefully and pauses to narrow his eyes at Chirithy. “What’d you do?” 

“Well…” Chirithy blows a puff of smoke and glances out to the empty street again, “I’ve been talking you up lately, and I was hoping _someone_ would come by like I asked him to, to keep you company on your closing shift, and maybe,” Chirithy shrugs in a poor attempt at indifference, tapping his cigar on the counter, “I dunno, give you a chance to apologize. But,” Chirithy sighs, prying his gaze from the window, and meeting Vanitas’ with a soft frown, “it looks like I may have misjudged his ability to separate himself from his new boyfriend.”

“You meddling little shit.” Vanitas grins without malice, thunking the bucket down again, and stepping up to the cat. “You know, when you first walked in, I thought maybe you were him.” 

“I know.” Chirithy stares down past his paws to the water spattered floor. “I’m sorry.” 

Vanitas ruffles the fur between Chirithy’s ears and huffs out a laugh, “Don’t be sorry. It’s… what I wanted.” 

The Chirithy giggles and jumps up to wrap his arms around Vanitas’ arm. Vanitas scoffs in mild irritation and then falls to laughing too, pressing Chirithy briefly to his chest.

The bell at the front door rings.

Ven stands in the doorway in a damp transparent rainslicker, his blond hair matted, drenched with the rain of another world, and dripping down his nose. He smells sharply of grass and fresh mud, and looks startled but pleased. 

“Are you guys… _hugging?”_

“Ventus?” Vanitas shakes the Chirithy off of his arm and back onto the counter. “You came…” 

Ven offers a small apologetic smile. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

Chirithy hops back onto his feet and brushes himself off, “Better late than never, right?” he cheers around his cigar, gesturing back to Vanitas, who still has a mop in the crook of his arm. “You’re just time to help Vanitas clean the floor. Looks like you even got him started.”

“Oops.” Ven lifts his boot, and glances to the water pooling around him, “Guess so. Hayner’s tournament was kind of a wash out.” 

“Oh.” Vanitas feels a low uncertain sound leave his throat and is a little cut by the flash of worry he sees cross Ven’s face. “You... wanna tell me about it?” 

“Sure,” Ven beams, walking forward and shaking off his coat like a golden retriever, which would ordinarily piss Vanitas off, but at the moment only makes his lip twitch up in a smile. “I think you’d really like Struggle. And Hayner too. And you can tell me how you’ve been doing…?”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Vanitas steps out from behind the bar, mop and bucket in hand, shirt damp, but smiling nonetheless. “And I’d like to try Struggle. And to meet him. Fuck, do I sound like a tool? There’s just a lot I’ve been needing to say to you, and now I sound like a tool.” 

“No,” Ven laughs, crossing the rest of the way over to him and wrapping him in an unexpected and incredibly damp hug, “for once, you don’t sound like a tool at all.” 

Vanitas goes stiff for a second and then melts, patting Ven lightly on the back. “Thanks.”

Chirithy coos and claps his hands together, “Well, I’ll leave you two to it, then!” 

Ven’s brows raise, glancing at his Spirit over Vanitas’ shoulder, “Are you going somewhere, Chirithy?” 

Chirithy nods. “I need to go wish Roxas and Axel luck on their trip.” He starts to walk across the bar, though it does not get him any closer to his destination. “And I should probably make sure they’ve packed enough layers...” 

Vanitas feels a twinge of pride as Chirithy disappears in a cloud of white, but can’t quite resist hollering after him, “Don’t forget to knock!”

“Do I want to know?” Ven asks, with curious brows and a teasing smile, gently pulling the bucket from Vanitas’ hand. 

“I’ve been trying to Chirithy your Chirithy.” Vanitas pulls at his bottom eyelid with damp fingers, sticking his tongue out for a moment. “But it’s fucking exhausting.”

Ven snorts. “Well, I’m glad you two are friends.” He claps Vanitas on the shoulder. “I hope maybe we can be friends again too.”

Vanitas nods, lifting the mop against his shoulder. “I think Chirithy would like that.”

Ven’s brows lift. “Chirithy, huh?”

“Psh, eh,” Vanitas shrugs a shoulder, bumping Ven lightly in the arm with the mop stick, “maybe also a little bit me.”

“But mostly Chirithy,” Ven says and smiles again. 

Vanitas feels a soft lifting, fuzzy feeling in his chest, like when the fluffy cat spirit had given him a hug. “Right. Mostly.”  
  



End file.
